By the Markets, of the Markets, for the Markets? Technocratic Decision Making and the Hollowing Out of Democracy

Abstract

The global financial crisis of 2007 turned into a sovereign debt crisis that placed the economies within the EU in jeopardy. Despite hastily decided rescue packages, bailouts and far‐reaching reforms of economic governance in the EU the situation still looks grim in some Southern member states. In the course of these rescue attempts technocratic decision making at the European level and within the most crisis‐ridden countries became more influential. Instead of rethinking the economic system, political accountability shifted from citizens to markets in order to ‘fix the system’. The knowledge base informing political decision making remained largely intact, allowing a dominant, international advocacy coalition to impose reforms deemed ‘necessary’. The price to pay is a decline in trust in elected representatives and the threat to fall back behind even Schumpeterian‐style democracies.

Expertise in European Economic Governance: A Feminist Analysis

“…It is also concerned with convincing important external actors and groups of the legitimacy and correctness of policy decisions. This type of depoliticisation is often understood as technocracy, or the rule by technocrats or experts, and has long been of concern to democratic theorists (Ruser 2015;Fischer 2009Fischer , 1990Coburn 2016) as well as to feminist scholars (Schuberth and Young 2011;Guerrina 2017;Fraser 2013).…”

Recentralization and vertical alignment in the French health‐care system

“…The debt of French regions and counties increased, respectively , by 124% and 64% in a decade. Recentralization also intended to generate economies of scale (multiple public agencies with redundancies were regrouped within the Regional Health Agencies; Moore, ) and scope (the RHA prerogative extend to all health services not just hospital services, like the former Regional Hospital Agencies to satisfy EU demands for a balanced budget (Ruser, )—the necessity of a frugal state (Foucault, )—rather than accede to community demands, for example, local notables “buying in” key electoral groups via sumptuous investments. Although hospitals are not financed by regions but by a single payer system (the social security) via activity‐based payments, regions are now expected to shoulder much of the latest ministerial hospital workforce stability plan.…”

Conclusion: How to Rule the Void? Policy Responses to a ‘Hollowing Out’ of Democracy

“…Atanassow, ; Castiglione, ), in an ideological convergence or division within the different party systems and epistemic communities (cf. White, ; McCarty and Kuo, ; Ruser, ), but also – and prominently in the European context – in the unsolved economic crisis with its uneven consequences for different regions and groups (cf. Greskovits, ; Mungui‐Pippidi, ).…”

“…Indeed, several contributions in this issue (cf. Greskovtis, ; Mungiu‐Pippidi, ; Bruzt, ; Weßels, ; Ruser, ; Weßels, ) highlight the role of bad domestic economic performance as a factor contributing to the erosion of both public support of, and participation in, democracy. In sum, the problem of economic growth, rising inequalities, and with it issues of social and economic justice, emerge as analytical focal points for a deeper analysis for the declining performance‐related support of western democracies.…”